Kanye West and President Trump discuss manufacturing jobs in Chicago and opportunities for ex-convicts Thursday

The rapper has faced criticism for his public support of the president and according to The New York Times they will meet in Washington DC on Thursday.

Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, will also be present, the paper reports.

West is said to want to discuss the availability of job opportunities for former convicts as well as the number of manufacturing jobs in his home town of Chicago.

A representative for West confirmed to the Times that the meeting was set to take place.

His wife, the reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, visited the White House in May to meet with Mr Trump and Mr Kushner to discuss prison reform.

Similar to what his wife Kim Kardashian did a few months back, Kanye is going to have a meeting on the criminal justice system. Kanye is reportedly seeking job opportunities for former convicts, while criminal justice reform has reportedly been Kushner’s main focus recently. After that, Kanye also hopes to talk with Mr. Trump on how to increase the number of manufacturing jobs in the Chicago area, where Mr. West grew up and recently said he planned to return, according to the person briefed in the meeting. A representative for Kanye confirmed the meeting too, validating that this meeting is indeed expected to happen. Many people believe Trump is doing this just as a marketing play to the African-American community with midterm elections next month, making Kanye a puppet in all of this.

That meeting resulted in the president granting clemency in the case of convicted drug dealer Alice Marie Johnson, for whom Kardashian West had been a prominent supporter.

West, 41, has deleted his social media accounts following a string of controversial stunts including wearing a Make America Great Again cap during an appearance on Saturday Night Live.

West was also booed while making a pro-Trump speech when the cameras stopped rolling on the popular US show in September.

The move led to Pete Davidson, Ariana Grande’s finance and SNL star, to publicly slam West.

During Saturday’s show, he said: “Kanye is a genius, but like a musical genius. Like Joey Chestnut is a hot dog-eating genius. But I don’t want to hear Joey Chestnut’s opinion on things that are not hot dog related.

“I know Kanye is saying, this is the real me. I’m off the meds. Take them! There’s no shame in the medicine game. I’m on them. There’s nothing wrong with taking them.

“If I ever got on a plane and the pilot said, ‘I just want all you to know, this is the real me flying’, I’d jump out. Being mentally-ill is not an excuse to act like a jackass.”